After visiting Chucky (now Charlie) in his lovely foster home with Nicky, we fell for him & looked forward to giving him a new forever home. He had a skin problem & an ear infection & gnawed his toes & between his pads but this was already so much better after Nicky’s kindness & attention. We returned to collect him on the 8th July although feeling a bit mean as he was leaving a lovely environment with his lovely foster mum. He seemed happy enough with us in his new home, sniffing around the house & garden & meeting the chickens – on his lead – & seeing the cats from a bit of a distance. He was good as gold sleeping in a crate on his first night & every night since.

When he is 100% ok with the cats we will then leave him loose in the room where they also sleep & he can then go outside if & when he wants to. He is a lovely boy, great temperament / nature, well behaved, funny – he loves to loon about – running around all the rooms at high speed. He is a quick learner & is great socialising with all the other dogs on our walks. His skin seems to be fine now & I hold my breath when I say I think we have just seem off the ear infection finally – fingers crossed! He is still gnawing at his toes & pads a bit if he goes out of sight at home but he is so much better. I’m thinking it may just be more a habit now, than an irritation. I let him loose with the 6 chickens within the first week as he had not seemed so interested in them so much & he was great, only wandering up slowly to sniff them & when they started to run, I told him to leave & he did & he’s been great with them ever since.

Although our rescue cats (of 14 years) grew up with our last dog – a friends dog visited one day & chased them both – up the stairs & around & really freaked them out – they still remember it I think so it’s been a very slow process to see Charlie as a friend not someone who will also chase them. The word‘leave’ has been used a lot & he responds very well to it. The cats now eat quite happily on their table just a couple of feet away from Charlie eating his & last night our male cat touched noses with him while he lay in his bed – brilliant. We have taken it this slowly – almost 2 months! – as wanted to take it at the cats’ pace so they accept him without feeling pushed out at all. Within the first month I was able to walk with him off the lead in the mornings down the meadow, & along the beach & in the woods (most areas).

He was surprisingly good the first time & has been brilliant ever since. We are so pleased to have Charlie live with us, he is such a lovely boy, we love him very much.